Wild Wren Farm

Hoddles Creek in the Yarra Valley, Victoria. Rocambole garlic is perfectly suited to our climactic conditions and soil, an important part of ensuring a healthy crop. Over winter, we w**d and mulch by hand, and the garlic grows through the frosty weather until the scapes emerge in late Spring. Biodynamic farming practices are employed to ensure that the whole of our farming system is healthy, from the soil up. Harvesting begins when the garlic bulbs are large and plump, with the scape heads twining up towards the sun. We then harvest the garlic by hand, pulling up each bulb individually. It is immediately hung to cure slowly in a breezy shed for up to four weeks before being cleaned and prepared for sale. Most garlic available in Australia is imported white garlic from China. Whilst garlic does store and travel well, the garlic that is sold in mass outlets in Australia has usually been whitened with chlorine and sulphur, treated with hormonal growth inhibitors to stop it sprouting en route, and treated with Methyl Bromide (a fumigant against insects) on entry into Australia. And that’s not even mentioning food miles! As a basis for delicious and healthy dishes, this garlic was not appealing to us at all. We decided to source and organically grow a connoisseur’s garlic. The garlic variety Purple Glamour is known throughout the gourmet world as a stand-out garlic in terms of the complexity of its flavour and its large, easily peeled -cloves. Correctly stored, our organic garlic keeps well until late Autumn, when it may begin to sprout - the cloves are still edible, just not as strongly flavoured. Our focus is to bring to our customers a healthy, robust garlic that they can enjoy whilst trusting that no chemicals, artificial fertilizers, or fumigants have been used in its production. A garlic that is grown locally by hand just outside Melbourne. We leave our customers feeling satisfied that their garlic is grown naturally, locally, and with integrity.